Most MA Nursing Homes Don't Expect To Survive Pandemic: Survey

CHESTNUT HILL, MA — Only about a quarter of the nation's nursing homes expect to survive the coronavirus pandemic and be operating a year from now, according to a survey released Tuesday by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

That includes several nursing homes in Massachusetts. State regulators have scheduled a July hearing to discuss the closing of Wingate at Chestnut Hill, which plans to end operations on Oct. 1. Other Massachusetts nursing homes expected to close in the coming months include Halcyon House in Methuen, Agawam HealthCare, Wareham HealthCare, and Town & Country Health Care Center in Lowell.

Nursing homes say the coronavirus pandemic saddled them with massive costs, including expenses for additional staff and training and personal protective equipment. About 84 percent of survey respondents said they were operating at a loss this year.

The AHCA/NCAL represents more than 14,000 nursing homes, assisted living communities, and other long term care facilities across the United States, and of those 14,000 nursing homes, only a quarter of them are confident that they'll be able to run another year or more.

One of the key findings in the survey showed that more than half of nursing homes and nearly half of assisted living communities say their organization is operating at a massive loss.

COVID-19 proved to cause the top three largest costs for the facilities - even if they had cases or not, the additional costs to pay to train staff, hire additional staff and provide proper protective equipment crushed the systems many nursing homes had in place.

“Even though COVID cases in long term care are at historic lows, providers are struggling to recover from the economic crisis the pandemic has induced. Too many facilities are operating under shoestring budgets simply because policymakers have failed to dedicate the proper resources, and this can have devastating consequences,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL.

Parkinson continued to add how the situation can be addressed, adding that nothing will be able to change until they receive help from lawmakers.